Uninspired Reds fall to clinical Gladbach

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FC Bayern fell 3-0 to Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday evening. Alassane Plea and Lars Stindl scored for the visitors early in the first half. Bayern dominated possession throughout but failed to find the final ball, Patrick Herrmann scoring the third goal in the closing stages.

The German record champions started with Manuel Neuer in goal and Joshua Kimmich, Niklas Süle, Mats Hummels and David Alaba in a back four. Thiago filled the holding role behind Arjen Robben, Thomas Müller, Leon Goretzka and James, with Robert Lewandowski as lone striker.

Early shocks

The 75,000 full house at the Allianz Arena saw Bayern go straight onto the front foot. Barely three minutes had been played when Müller connected to a Robben cross, Borussia netminder Yann Sommer saving his diving header, but Müller was ruled offside anyway. The Bavarians were in the driving seat, but Borussia took the lead out of nothing, Plea curling into the far corner of the net from 20 yards following a one-two with Jonas Hofmann.

The next setback came only five minutes later, when Hofmann nicked the ball off Thiago's toe and set up Stindl, who crashed the ball past Neuer. Bayern went looking for a reply, dominating possession, but they proved ulitmately uninspired in the final third. Sommer comfortably saved efforts from Robben and Lewandowski from tight angles after the half-hour, and match official Frank Willenborg blew for half-time.

No way past Sommer

Niko Kovac brought on Franck Ribéry and Serge Gnabry for Robben and Müller in an effort to raise the momentum. Alaba sustained an injury early in the second half, Renato Sanches taking over. A Ribéry cross failed to find a team-mate before James miscued from 12 yards. Bayern enjoyed more of the ball but their inaccurate passing in Gladbach's half stifled many of their attacks.

Munich did have the ball in the back of the net midway through the second half, Lewandowski firing into the far corner, but the linesman's flag was raised. Gnabry and Sanches fired wide, but things got even more awkward for the Reds when Herrmann slotted past Neuer following a corner, and Willenborg blew for full-time.

The result means Bayern have 13 points from seven matches, lying fifth in the table. A large number of FCB pros will be on national team duty during the international break. The Reds return to action on 20 October, when they travel to face VfL Wolfsburg.